Germany Wins 2014 FIFA World Cup

The 2014 football World Cup ended in Brazil with a German victory over Argentina in the final match. The tournament was played in several stadiums across Brazil and attracted media attention from around the world. Brazil hosted the World Cup for the first time since 1950, where they lost in the final game to Uruguay.

The tournament had many surprises. In the group stage, former World Champions Italy and England failed to qualify. Defending World Cup holder Spain was eliminated after two opening defeats to the Netherlands and Chile. Host country and World Cup favourite Brazil disappointed many fans. They did not play as well as they had in the 2013 Confederations Cup. After average performances in the group stage, the “selecao” lost their wunderkind Neymar after a foul by a Columbian defender in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals, they Germany rolled over the Brazilians 7-1. Three days later the hosts lost third place to the Netherlands 0-3.

 

Costa Rica won their group and eliminated Greece in the first knock-out round. In the quarterfinals, they lost to the Netherlands in a breath-taking penalty shoot-out and had to leave Brazil without losing a match.

A few scandals accompanied the tournament. The biggest one happened when Uruguay’s striker Luis Suarez bit the shoulder of Italian defender Chiellini. After examining video footage, FIFA banned Suarez for the rest of the tournament and for a further four months. Referees were also criticized after making several wrong decisions.

 

The 2014 FIFA World Cup saw the introduction of a new goal-line technology. However, it was only needed once. For the first time FIFA allowed referees to call out breaks during the game in which players could drink, due to the high temperatures and humidity.

In the end, Germany proved to be the most stable team of the tournament. After crushing Portugal 4:0 in the opening game, the Germans went on to win their group. In the knockout phase, they had many problems with underdog Algeria but won after extra time. Victories against France and Brazil gave the Germans their eighth final in football history. Argentina was a tough match in a fairly even game. Mario Götze scored the only goal in the 113th minute of the final, giving Germany the fourth World Cup in history.

The Europeans arguably had the best team in the World Cup. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was the centrepiece of German defence. Even without an outstanding superstar, like Brazil’s Neymar or Argentina’s Messi, a good mixture of offensive and defensive players allowed the Germans to vary the speed of the game. In the end, the substitutes made the difference and won matches for Germany.